Walking around the corner, Delta and Major arrived at where Pact had been, walking in whilst Pact seemed to be talking to someone in full blue who disappeared as soon as Delta arrived. 

 

“What are you doing here? The lesson’s over already!” 

 

“I had something to ask you.”

 

Delta quickly noticed that his voice sounded a lot deeper, but he didn’t think anything of it.

 

“This better be goo- how?!”

 

“That’s what I wanted to ask you about. I managed to achieve the synergy, but I don’t know much about it.”

 

“On the toilet?! How does that even work?!”

 

Stifling a laugh, Delta said, “it sort of just came to me. I don’t know either. What now?”

 

At first, Delta had considered keeping it a secret, but considering how much more powerful Pact was, Delta realised he’d need Pact more than Pact would need him. 

 

“W-well,” Pact said, clearing his throat. “If you look at your body, you’ll see that markings should have appeared and that certain body parts would have changed to suit the beast you have turned into. I can tell you now that your body temperature is a lot higher than before, and your teeth seem to have grown a little longer. Also, there seem to be tusks that have grown from your mouth and slight horns too.”

 

Delta was quite shocked to hear this, however, as he hadn’t even noticed his new tusks and horns. Instead, his body felt entirely natural, albeit a lot larger. 

 

Looking around, the only reflective surface Delta could find was the swords that were on the racks, so Delta walked over and picked one up, looking at the reflective blade. 

 

Pact had spoken the truth. Delta had indeed grown tusks and horns, and tattoo-like lines ran up his neck and around his face. 

 

“The tattoos are the medium through which your link is formed, but you can hide them if you please. Once you have better control, you can also hide the traits of being transformed, so you can remain synergised without appearing like it. Try hiding your tattoos. Just focus on them, and then will for them to disappear. That’s how we dragons do it, although I don’t know if-”

 

As he was speaking, Delta made the tattoos disappear. 

 

“a human could handle it…”

 

“I think I did it. I can’t seem to make the rest of the changes disappear though.”

 

“I-impressive. I expected nothing less from my student.”

 

‘I know I have to pretend to be a good student, but this is too much…’ Delta thought, trying and nearly failing to stifle a laugh. 

“Well, human, I have to go now. I don’t mind you going into the Spirit Realm on your own, but keep in mind that I won’t be there to save you should you get into trouble.”

 

‘I won’t have this bastard creating problems for me, and that is more than worth it.’

 

With that, Pact took off into the air, flying out into the sky and slowly disappearing as Delta disengaged the synergy, feeling like he had deflated a little as he returned to his regular self.

 

Looking at the clock tower, Delta realised that going into the Spirit Realm and the Beast Sanctuary had eaten into his lunch break and that there were only about 25 minutes left of the break. 

 

Whilst he was able to go days without food, he would definitely prefer to eat something, so with that in mind, he went to the Cafeteria. 

 

As he entered, he realised he hadn’t actually been here yet since he had been going to restaurants outside of the school instead, and decided to eat dinner in the large dining hall.

 

The building was rather grand, the entrance leading to a common room where students could congeal and interact with each other. The entrance room had carpeted floors and marble pillars supporting the roofing. 

 

There were sofas and sitting areas, and a window to the cafeteria’s kitchens where students could order something to eat.  

 

If you continue through the arched door, you’d arrive at the cafeteria, which was especially busy since it was lunchtime. 

 

Since he had come so late, the queue had dwindled compared to before, so there wasn’t really much of a wait to get to the front. 

 

After scanning the menu a little, Delta settled on a steak and chips. It wasn’t as nice as the grilled Flame Ox steak he had at the restaurant, but he expected that. Besides, it was better than the rations given in the army by a landslide.

 

Looking around, most of the students had branched into their own little groups, talking amongst themselves at different tables. 

 

Midway through his meal, a hand was placed on his shoulder and turning around, Delta found what seemed to be a senior at the Academy. 

 

“May I help you?” Delta asked, his eyes analysing the actions of a senior like a machine searching for threats. 

 

“I heard you were starting trouble, first year.”

 

“I don’t suppose you could elaborate?” Delta replied, standing up as he said so.

 

Even though he was quite tall for his age, he was still a few inches shorter than the one who had intruded on his meal. 

 

“You know what I’m talking about. Now apologise.”

 

“How about I make you a better offer. You apologise and leave me alone and I’ll forget this ever happened. Otherwise, I’ll embarrass you in front of all your ‘juniors’”.

 

By now, most of the cafeteria had quietened down, and everyone seemed to be looking over at the two, making it practically impossible for the intruder to leave without losing a lot of face. 

 

Some seemed to be exchanging bets, and others were cheering and chanting “Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!”

 

“You looking for a fight, junior?”

 

“Oh for the love of God…”

 

Suddenly, the senior threw a fist at Delta, aiming for his jaw to end the fight in a single blow, but Delta was ready for him. 

 

Grabbing his wrist, Delta pulled him forwards to throw off balance and sent his fist flying towards the senior student’s stomach, sending him flying backwards for a meter or two. 

 

“I warned you…” 

 

Choosing to leave before any teachers stopped him or a crowd congealed, Delta quickly made his way out, heading towards his next lesson. 

A few students had recorded the event, but Delta decided against stopping them. It would be nice if the other students would give him some space, especially since he wasn’t there to make friends, but rather get stronger. 

 

As he was walking, a student ran up beside him and said, “That was awesome! Nice job, man. I’m Kyle, you?”

 

Delta didn’t reply, but rather kept walking. 

 

“Cool, cool, cool. So, how did it feel? It must have felt amazing, right?”

 

Still no reply. 

 

“Okay, I’m starting to get the feeling I’m not wanted here… oh well. Anyways, I wanted to let you know that the Seniors despise getting shown up by younger, more talented students, so they like to assert dominance early on. You might want to watch your back.”

 

With that, he disappeared quickly, heading around the corner whilst Delta pondered what he had said. 

 

‘To think I’d get dragged into the politics of children…’

 

After checking his calendar, Delta realised he was supposed to be in the same training arena as before for the close combat training coming up, so he briskly made his way over. 

 

Once he arrived, Delta realised that the Mana class wasn’t the only one taking the lessons and that they were joining the students from the Aura and Ki classes. 

 

Although he had arrived a few minutes before the bell had rung, quite a few students had arrived. The real weapons Delta had used before had disappeared from where they had been, and they seemed to have been replaced with wooden ones.

 

Some of these weapons had already been taken off of the racks, however, as students practised sparring against each other in the middle of the arena. 

 

Watching them fight, Delta realised that the students in the other classes seemed to be quite experienced with the sword, albeit rather inexperienced compared to himself.

 

Delta went over to the weapon racks and scoured over for a longsword he could use comfortably, and after a little bit of testing, Delta settled on one. 

 

“A good choice.”

 

Delta turned to see a boy that seemed to be a few years older than he was looking down at the weapon Delta was holding. 

 

He had matte black hair that seemed rather wild and had a light, rugged beard growing. He walked with the confidence of a fighter and looked like someone who had seen a fair share of battles. Either way, however, Delta was quite impressed. 

 

“And you might be?”

 

“My name? I’ll tell you if you can beat me in a sword fight.”

 

At first, Delta was going to refuse, but part of him was itching for a good battle, and this seemed to be a great opportunity. 

 

The pair walked closer to the middle of the arena so that they had more space, then readied themselves to battle. 

 

“On three?” Delta asked.

 

“Works with me. I’ll count… 1… 2… 3!”

 

With that, the two fighters sprung at each other, both armed with their chosen weapons and fighting with resolve in their eyes.